
COPYRIGHT DEPOSm 



A Jietter Country 




.M. KUWAKP r.ouni:us. a. n.. m. a. 



A a^tt^r (Hanntvn 

(Third Edition) 
BY 

REV. M. EDWARD BORDERS, A.B., A.M. 

PASTOR AND EVANGELIST 
Author of 

"CORONATION GLORIES" 
"THE SUCCESSFUL PASTOR" 
"A WRONG CHOICE" 



"They confessed that they 
were strangers and pilgrims on 
the earth * * * but now 
they desire a better country, that 
is an heavenly." 

"And God shall wipe away all 
tears from their eyes; and there 
shall be no more death, neither 
sorrow, nor crying, neither shall 
there be any more pain." 

"And the gates of it shall not 
be shut at all by day: for there 
shall be no night there." 



®6r (Htftiitian WxtnzBi (Hompunjs 






COPYRIGHT 1918 

BY 

THE CHRISTIAN WITNESS CO. 



JAN -2 Iblb 



©C;.A511200 



J^0 I 



V. 



To my dear mother, who in child- 
hood's trying days, so often read to 
me of that Better Country; whose 
prayers and patient sufferings broke 
my heart and led me to Him who is 
that Country's climacteric glory, and 
to her whose earthly twilight even 
now is under the golden gleam of 
Heaven's fadeless dawn, this book 
is devotedly dedicated 

BY THE AUTHOR. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 

Page 

FOREWORD 9 

INTRODUCTION ..... n 

HEAVEN, A BETTER COUNTRY . . 15 

I. TWO CERTAINTIES ABOUT HEAVEN 16 

(1) Heaven Is a State . . . jg 



(2) Heaven Is a Place 



III. SOME THINGS THAT HEAVEN WILL 
BE . . . 



19 



11. SOME THINGS IN THIS WORLD 

THAT WILL NOT BE IN HEAVEN 31 

(1) No Sin 31 

(2) No Sorrow • • . . 32 

(3) No Separation .... 34 



38 
38 



(1) A Land op Song . . 

1. Note Its Singers . . 33 

2. The Number of Its Singers 38 

3. Note the Song that They 

Sing .... 41 

4. Note the Theme of Their 

Song .... 41 

(2) It Is a Land of Purity . . 42 

(3) The Place of Happy Reunions 43 



TABLE OF CONTENTS-Continued 



IV. SOME OF THE ATTRACTIONS OF 
HEAVEN .... 

(1) The Angelic Host 

(2) The Old Testament Saints 

(3) The New Testament Saints 

(4) The Great Army of Martyrs 

(5) Our Own Loved One3 

(Q) The Last and Greatest Attrao 
tion Will Be Jesus . 



Page 

49 

49 
52 
53 
55 
61 

63 



V. THE WAY TO HEAVEN OR HEAVEN'S 

FITNESS . . . . . 75 

What Others Have Said About 

Heaven ..... 83 

First — Heaven a Place . . 83 

Second — Shall We Know Each 

Other There ? ... 88 

Third — Glimpses of Heaven . 90 

Fourth — Promiscuous . . 96 



Foreword 

In the preparation of a treatise on such a super- 
lative subject as the title of this book suggests, 
the author reaHzes that the few who have ap- 
proached it have drawn near with gentle footsteps 
and bated breath, fearful of being in the category 
of those who "rush in where angels fear to 
tread" ; and it is not without the same feeling of 
reverential awe that the writer has compiled this 
work. 

That there cannot be too much said on such a 
glorious theme, however, need scarcely be stated. 
The present life with its sighs and its sorrows, 
its moans and its maladies, its troubles and its 
tears, its griefs and its graves, groaning with the 
sufferings of the poor, resounding with the 
shrieks of the dying, and reeking with the stu- 
pendous and incalculable degradation and de- 
bauchery of sin, is to me a constant reminder that 
this world is not an Eden, and that *'I am but a 
stranger here; Heaven is my home." Who has 
not longed for that blessed haven? It has been 
the theme of the most holy and seraphic of man- 
kind in all ages, as they voiced their sentiments 
in song, sermon, testimony, and prayer. The 
human heart instinctively longs for that blissful 
abode, and the best and most luminous of the 
militant church dwell often upon its supernal 
glories and grandeurs. Oh, that we all may med- 
itate on its precious scenes, obtain a foretaste 
here below, and enjoy its elysian realities forever ! 



Introduction 

This world at its best is a mixed world — right- 
eousness and sin — and sin largely predominates. 

Heaven and hell are unmixed worlds. 

In hell evil prevails unrestrained by the laws 
of righteousness. 

In Heaven righteousness prevails untrammelled 
by evil. 

Unmixed righteousness produces undisturbed 
happiness, — the natural longing of every human 
soul. 

This heart-thirst is an indisputable evidence 
of the immortality of the human soul and its ulti- 
mate location in Heaven. 

Having had my attention called to this book 
entitled "A Better Country," by Rev. M. E. 
Borders, it gives me great pleasure to call the 
attention of the reading public to this opportune 
and splendidly written book. 

It is needed and will bear fruit. 

I regard it as a lucid, suggestive, strong, help- 
ful and timely book. 

It is well thought out and clearly expressed in 
terse, accurate and conspicuous English. 

It has both religious and literary merit. 

The true saints of God in the midst of the op- 
positions and conflicts incident to a life devoted 



to God need to have their attention called from 
the conflicts below to a Better Country above. 

It gives me great pleasure to commend this 
excellent book to the minds and hearts of men 
interested in that Better Country, — especially to 
the saints of God. 

It will awaken the sinner, stimulate the back- 
slider to return to God, and encourage the 
sanctified to press on courageously and victor- 
iously to that Better Country. 

J. W. Hughes, Ph. B. 
President of Kingswood College. 



"I will sing you a song of that beautiful land, 

The far-away home of the soul, 
Where no storms ever beat on the glittering strand. 

While the years of eternity roll. 

O, that home of the soul, in my visions and dreams* 

Its bright jasper walls I can see. 
Till I fancy but thinly the veil intervenes. 

Between the fair city and me. 

There the great tree of life in its beauty doth 
grow, 

And the river of life floweth by, 
For no death ever enters that city you know, 

And nothing that maketh a lie. 

That unchangeable home is for you and for me. 

Where Jesus of Nazareth stands ; 
The King of all kingdoms forever is He, 

And He holdeth our crowns in His hands. 

O, how sweet it will be in that beautiful land, 
So free from all sorrow and pain! 

With songs on our lips and with harps in our hands. 
To meet one another again." 



Heaven, a Better Country 

"Time is winging us away 
To our eternal home." 

With profound and reverential humility 
I undertake this great subject. I only- 
wish that it were in my power to describe 
the transcendent glory of this eternal home 
of the redeemed. Such a description, 
however, has never been conveyed to the 
human mind, and therefore can never be 
transmitted to human tongue. After all we 
have read, studied, heard, and felt, what 
a feeble idea we have of the glory and 
grandeur awaiting us when done with this 
world. The richest, ripest, rarest earthly 
language is incapable of giving us the 
slightest conception of its infinite and end- 
less joys. John's inspired vision caught 
a faint glimpse of this home, but few of 
us can understand this mystical apocalyptic 
description. We stand amazed, confused, 



i6 A BETTER COUNTRY 

and bewildered by a multiplicity of sym- 
bols and images which, to most minds, I 
fear, obscures rather than illuminates this 
Celestial City. 

In considering this subject, I call your 
attention to five simple divisions. 

I Two Certainties About Heaven 

II Some Things in This World That Will 
Not Be in Heaven 

III Some Things That Heaven Will Be 

IV Some of the Attractions of Heaven 
V The Way to Heaven 

I. Two Certainties About Heaven 

( I ) Heaven is a State. The writer of 
the Hebrews said that we were to receive 
a kingdom. Christ said, "Behold, the 
kingdom of God is within you." The in- 
spired apostle, Paul, said, "The kingdom 
of God is righteousness, and peace, and 
joy in the Holy Ghost." So, then, being 
right with God is to be in a heavenly state 
or condition. 



A BETTER COUNTRY 17 

In one of my revival meetings some 
years ago, an actress was smitten with 
conviction. She became so sick of sin 
that she Hterally staggered under its awful 
guilt. At the altar of prayer, with sobs 
and tears, she prayed for pardon. In- 
stantly heavenly light broke in on her 
darkened soul, she sprang to her feet, and 
with shining, upturned face, she lifted her 
rich, cultured voice in song. 

"Once Heaven seemed a far-off place, 
Till Jesus showed His smiling face : 
Now it's begun within my soul, 
Twill last while endless ages roll. 

"O hallelujah, yes 'tis Heaven, 
Tis Heav'n to know my sins forgiv'n ; 
On land or sea, what matters where. 
Where Jesus is, 'tis Heaven there." 

The whole audience seemed to be moved 
by a glorious, heavenly atmosphere. It 
seemed that "angels were hovering 
'round.'' 

In another meeting, a brilliant and 



i8 A BETTER COUNTRY 

beautiful young lady came to the altar. 
She had once been a Christian, but had 
been wofully backslidden for years. The 
once glowing coals of hope were almost 
entirely extinguished. What sad, de- 
spairing features! What a hard, cynical 
face! What a lightless, hopeless coun- 
tenance ! I asked her to pray. She said, 
*T cannot." I urged her. She said, "It is 
useless ; there is no hope ; God will not hear 
me.'' I asked her to close her eyes and 
say, "O Jesus, O Jesus!'' She began 
breathing His blessed nam^ in prayer. 
Soon the tears began to flow ; the features 
relaxed, and suddenly the light from an- 
other world was in her countenance. As 
the audience looked on her shining face, 
all felt that they were in the ante-chamber 
of Heaven. 

In joy or sadness, sorrow or pain, storm 
or calm, health or sickness, adversity or 
prosperity, with friends or friendless, in 
life or death, if we have Jesus, we have 
Heaven bec^un and a rich foretaste of the 



A BETTER COUNTRY 19 

full and indescribable inheritance awaiting 
us by and by. Fourteen years ago it 
seemed that God left His refulgent throne 
to walk and talk with me. He brought 
me this heavenly experience, and since 
then, I have been going about this old 
world humming and harping heavenly 

praises. 

* 

(2) Heaven is a Place, The Bible 
speaks of it as "A paradise restored, a city, 
a city of God, a better country (literally, 
a fatherland), a temple, a garner, a king- 
dom, an everlasting kingdom, a fadeless 
and incorruptible inheritance, a dwelling 
place, God's throne and Father's house of 
many mansions." God is a person. The 
Bible speaks of Him looking down from 
His habitation in Heaven ; again it speaks 
of "the place of His habitation." 

While there is a sense in which Heaven 
is everywhere, because God is everywhere, 
yet Heaven is somewhere in particular. 
The glorified body of Moses, of Enoch, of 



20 A BETTER COUNTRY 

Elijah, and of our blessed Lord are some- 
where. My sister is somewhere. One 
dark, dreary day they took her body and 
placed it to rest under the sad, soughing 
locust trees of her native state, but she is 
not there. She is in some place, and that 
place, blessed be God, is Heaven ! 

Jesus told His sorrowing disciples, ''I 
go to prepare a place for you. And if I go 
to prepare a place for you, I will come 
again, and receive you unto myself; that 
where I am, there you may be also.^' We 
would draw the following certainties from 
this part of Christ's farewell message: 

( 1 ) That He is going away. 

(2) To prepare a Home; a place. 

(3) He is coming again. 

(4) He will receive them in this place 
He is preparing. 

Some would have us believe that God is 
going to fix this world and make it the 
final home of His people. Well, they may 



A BETTER COUNTRY 21 

stay here if they so desire, but somfe day 
I am going away. 

"My Father's house is built on high ; 
Far, far above the starry sky; 
When from this earthly prison free, 
That heav'nly mansion mine shall be." 

Yes ; I am going up when through v/ith 
this earthly pilgrimage, — not to a world 
cursed and ruined by sin and then fixed by 
a kind, provident, beneficent God ; but to a 
prepared world that has never known the 
blight of sin ; to a world whose streets are 
gold and whose walls are jasper, whose 
inhabitants are holy angels and the re- 
deemed and blood-washed of all ages. I 
expect to slip out of this old world and 
sweep through the pearly gates under the 
glittering rainbow glories of the heavenly 
city. I shall see its crystal seas, mirror- 
ing perfectly the image of its glorious 
King, roam its gloriously hued and ex- 
quisitely perfumed flower fields, eat the 
luscious fruit of the tree of life, one leaf 
of which is enough to ''heal a nation." I 



22 A BETTER COUNTRY 

shall strike a harp of gold with that com- 
pany who are now singing melodious son- 
nets with flaming tongues above. 

The wonders of creation give us a hint 
of the infinite greatness and grandeur of 
Heaven. In our planetary system, there 
are eight large worlds, and of this num- 
ber, this world is among the smallest. 
Uranus is fifty times larger than the earth ; 
Neptune, sixty; Saturn, one thousand; 
while Jupiter is twelve hundred times 
larger, and if all these worlds were rolled 
into one great globe, old Father Sun 
around which they all revolve would still 
be five hundred times larger. In other 
words, the sun is 1,400,000 times larger 
than this little, diminutive globe upon 
which we live. Besides this, the mighty 
photographic telescopes have revealed 
500,000,000 of other stars or suns, some of 
them one thousand times larger and 
brighter than the sun. Light, which 
travels at the rate of one hundred and 
eighty-five thousand miles per second, 



A BETTER COUNTRY 23 

would flash around this small world of 
ours seven times in one second. It would 
travel from the sun to this earth, a dis- 
tance of 91,000,000 miles in eight minutes, 
and yet it would take it ten thousand years 
to leap across the "Milky Way." If a star 
should suddenly begin to shine on the out- 
ermost rim' of the "Milky Way" with suf- 
ficient brilliancy to reach the farthermost 
star of the other rim, it would take its 
light, traveling at the rate of one hundred 
and eighty-five thousand miles per second, 
ten thousand years to reach that star. Oh, 
the mysterious and impenetrable wonders 
of creation! Looking beyond the rim of 
all that has been discovered, they tell us 
"there is a luminous haze suggestive of 
other glories of creation, stretching 
farther on in the dim distance of space, 
which mortal m)an may never hope to ex- 
plore. All of these millions of varied, 
whirling, flaming worlds flung out into 
space by the omnipotent hand of an infinite 
Creator, may be but a drop in the bucket 



24 A BETTER COUNTRY 

compared with the intinite number of 
created glories beyond tlie searching sweep 
of the mighty telescopes ; and yet our God 
calls them all by name and upholds them 
by the word of His power. 

Then, again, the beauties of creation 
gi7'e us a hint of the indescribable glories 
cf Heaz'cn. This world of ours is indeed 
beautiful, but it is a well-kno\Mi astronom- 
ical fact that it is not to be compared with 
tlie marvellous and unapproachable beauty 
of other worlds. One astronomer speaks 
of this world of ours, with its golden 
morning dawn?, radiant sunsets, gor- 
sreouslv hued evenins^ slvv% vernal beautv 
of spring, golden glow of simimer, and tlie 
fading bloom of autumn, as being mean, 
dim and dusky as compared with the in- 
describable glory of other worlds. Saturn, 
besides being one thousand times larger 
than our earth, has eight large moons 
shining in its sky, and is encircled with 
zones oi light of immense size and of 
various and wondrous colors. Three 



A BETTER COUNTRY 25 

mighty belts of rainbow lustre encircle 
this glorious world. One astronomer said, 
*'such a world as Saturn seems to be a very 
Paradise where the redeemed of the Lord 
might walk, or angels soar and sing." It 
is a place of such wonderful beauty that he 
conjectured it ''as being possibly populated 
with a race akin to angels." Besides the 
gorgeously dressed and princely plumed 
Saturn, we have in our solar system the 
beautiful, silvered Venus and the rich, red 
Mars. 

Of the millions of stars outside of our 
planetary system, every color and hue, 
is represented. The telescope reveals red, 
green, purple, gold, white, blue, violet, and 
orange. Then there are the binaries (or 
double worlds) which represented two 
different colors beautifully blended. There 
is the combination of yellow and purple; 
pea green and blue ; sea green and orange ; 
blue and orange; white and light purple; 
emerald green and orange ; and yellow and 
sapphire blue. 



26 A BETTER COUNTRY 

The beautiful star, Arcturus, which 
spoke to Job of his mighty Redeemer, is 
of a flaming color, one thousand times 
brighter than our sun. In the glorious 
constellation Orion, of which the book of 
Job speaks, there are three double stars, 
with the colors, white and blue; yellow 
and blue; and white and purple. Is it 
any wonder that a Christian astronomer 
said of these astonishing and bewildering 
mysteries *'that if mortal man on this dim 
speck of earth can catch even a glimmer 
of such heavenly splendors, what glories 
may not the future life unfold T' Another 
says that "all these created wonders may 
be but the dim! corner of that glorious 
Home, the suburbs of the glorious City, 
the ante-room of the King's Palace, the 
shimmer of Heaven's glittering gates, or 
the dust from Heaven's golden streets." 

Then there may he a suggestion in the 
plan of creation. A widely accepted plan 
of creation is that all of these millions of 
stars or suns are great centres, around 



A BETTER COUNTRY 2J 

which planets revolve. Then there is a 
great, great central sun of incalculable 
size, around which all of these smaller 
suns with their planetary systems are re- 
volving. One astronomer has gone so far 
as to conjecture "that this great, great 
central sun is five hundred times larger 
than all of these millions of other suns 
combined.'' They have estimated that it 
would take these suns, travelling at the 
rate of one hundred thousand miles per 
hour, twenty-five hundred thousand years 
to make one circuit around this great, 
great centre. One Christian astronomer 
has said that "this great, great centre is 
Heaven." 

Yet some would have us think that this 
little dim speck of earth, comparatively 
speaking, in the inimitable realm of crea- 
tion, is to be the "Eternal Home of the 
saints." This to me is painfully unrea- 
sonable. Ah, this is too small, too small 
for the mighty cravings and longings of 
an immortal spirit, which is in the great 



28 A BETTER COUNTRY 

Creator's estimation infinitely greater than 
all other created wonders. Finally, let 
me say on this point, we do not know 
as to the truth of these conjectures, but 
this one thing we do know, that out 
yonder somewhere in God's great, meas- 
ureless universe. He has a home for His 
own. I believe this home to be the 
climacteric stroke of His creative genius, 
and that Heaven will be the greatest, 
grandest world in the ability of an Al- 
mighty God to create. I believe that when 
God shall have completed Heaven there 
will not be one thing that can be added 
to or taken from it. The glory of the 
countless, starry hosts bewilder the mind 
and stagger the imagination, but Heaven 
will surpass and transcend their combined 
beauties. 

Heaven will be the great m^etropolis of 
God's people, resplendent with His blaz- 
ing, burnished throne ; forever guarded by 
the presence of the worshipful Trinity, 
abundantly spacious for millions of ador- 



A BETTER COUNTRY 29 

ing angels and millions of glad, happy- 
beings from perhaps all of these millions 
of unfallen worlds; and, blessed be God, 
millions of adoring, blood-washed saints 
from the battle field of this old world, who 
in all probability will be the wonder of the 
inhabitants of this blessed Home, as the 
only ones who have known the curse and 
blight of sin and the power of redeeming 
grace ! 

Yes, Heaven is somewhere ! God is not 
so impoverished as to be forced to herd 
and crowd His people together on this 
small globe! Just what relationship this 
redeemed world will sustain toward the 
heavenly universe, we do not know. It 
may be a sort of a Bunker Hill monument; 
marking the place where Jesus Christ, 
(Heaven's Champion,) met sin, death, and 
hell; where the great battle of human 
redemption was fought; and where the 
victory was won that redeemed a guilty 
race. 



30 A BETTER COUNTRY 

"I hear thee speak of a better land : 
Thou call'st its children a happy band. 
Mother, oh ! where is that radiant shore ? 
Shall we not seek it, and weep no more? 
Is it where the flower of the orange blows, 
And the fireflies dance through the myrtle 
boughs ?" 
"Not there, not there, my child !" 

"Is it where the feathery palm-trees rise. 
And the date grows ripe under sunny skies ? 
Or midst the green islands of glittering seas, 
Where fragrant forests perfume the breeze. 
And strange, bright birds on their starry wings 
Bear the rich hues of all glorious things?'* 
"Not there, not there, my child !" 

"Is it far away in some region old, 
Where the rivers wander o'er sands of gold, 
Where the burning rays of the ruby shine, 
And the diamond lights up the secret mine, 
And the pearl gleams forth from the coral 

strand ? — 
Is it there, sweet mother ! — the better land ?" 
"Not there, not there, my child !" 

"Eye hath not seen it, my gentle boy ; 
Ear hath not heard its deep sounds of joy; 
Dreams cannot picture a world so fair ; 
Sorrow and death may not enter there: 
Time doth not breathe on its deathless bloom ; 
Beyond the clouds, beyond the tomb, — i 

It is there, it is there, my child !" 



A BETTER COUNTRY 31 

11. Some Things in Tliis World That 
Will Not Be in Heaven 

(i) No Sin. The Word says "and 
there shall in no wise enter into it any 
thing that defileth/' Sin is at the bottom 
of all trouble in this world. The jails, 
work-houses, insane asylums, and re- 
formatories are monuments marking its 
victories. Every bitter tear, sigh, and 
groan has been caused by its ravage and 
ruin. It has blasted the world's hopes, 
degraded its desires, fired its passions, 
polluted its influence, stained its char- 
acter, shattered its intellect, outraged its 
morality, seared its conscience, perverted 
and cursed its life, and seeks to damn eter- 
nally every soul. It has filled the world 
with disease and death. It is itself the 
worst disease, — yea, worse than all malig- 
nant diseases combined! Smallpox, yel- 
low fever, black diphtheria, leprosy, and all 
the other dreadful scourges are nothing 
compared with this. The distempers of 



^2 A BETTER COUNTRY 

this world can only affect body and mind 
for time, but this malignant plague ruins 
body and soul forever. Go where you will 
and you will find it. It is rampant every- 
where, — in every life, family, town, city, 
state, and country, but, thank God, there 
are two places that sin cannot be found, — 
in a pure heart, and in a pure Heaven. 

(2) No Sorrow. The Word says "and 
God shall wipe away all tears from their 
eyes ; there shall be no more death, neither 
sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be 
any more pain, for the former things have 
passed away." The world is filled with 
sighs, groans, tears, and heartaches. 

On one occasion we went out to make 
some pastoral calls. Going into a home 
we found an elderly lady who was left 
alone in the world. She was heart broken 
over the fact her children had deserted 
her and forgotten her. In another, we 
found a widow with four children, with 
hardly a hod full of coal and scarcely a 



A BETTER COUNTRY 33 

bite of bread. She was fighting hard the 
wolf of adversity. In another, we found 
the mother's eyes red and swollen with 
weeping over a son who had forgotten her 
prayers and gone off into a life of prodi- 
gality. In still another home, was sorrow 
and disgrace over the fact that a daughter 
had lost her virtue and womanhood. In 
another, a mother had just lost a beautiful 
little boy from black diphtheria. She 
looked as though the sun had set to rise no 
more forever. A very beautiful, palatial 
home on the hill was surrounded with well 
kept lawns, shrubbery, and variegated per- 
fumatory flowers. The floors of this 
home were covered with heavy carpets, 
beautiful pictures were on the wall, expen- 
sive draperies overhung the windows, but 
the sound of laughter was scarcely ever 
heard. The only music was a little bird 
singing at intervals in its little prison. 
The hearts and hopes of this family had 
been crushed by the presence of a drunken 
father and son. 



v.^ 



34 A BETTER COUNTRY 

I went back to the parsonage after this 
day's work, and threw myself on the 
couch, weary, sick, and tired, and said, 
''God only knows the bitter anguish of 
this world!" Surely sorrow is written 
over every life. We should be very 
kind and patient with this world. How 
careful should we be in our criticisms 
of those about us, for we m/ay know but 
little the storms of sorrow that sweep the 
coast of their souls! Thank God, in 
Heaven there will be no sorrow! I used 
to hear my mother sing 

"In Heaven above where all is love, 
There'll be no sorrow there." 

There sorrow will never cloud the brow, 
and bitter tears will never blind our eyes 
or stain our cheeks. In that blessed world, 
there will be ''no good absent and no evil 
present.'' 

(3) No Separation. This is a world 
of separation. We have our mothers and 
fathers for a little while. We are blessed 



A BETTER COUNTRY 35 

with their example and influence, and we 
feel that we could not live without them, 
but soon they pass on. We grow up with 
our brothers and sisters, and the thought 
of separation brings a feeling of sadness, 
but circumstances in life divide the family 
and it is soon scattered over several states 
or countries. We press our children to 
our hearts as if we could keep them, but 
soon Death comes uninvited, and they are 
torn away. 

"One by one their chairs are emptied, 
One by one they went away." 

So one by one they are slipping away from 
us. How we review the dear, sweet fa- 
miliar faces of the bygone. There are 
dear father and dear mother, whose heads 
are crowned with the silver diadem of old 
age, their brows wrinkled with ceaseless 
care, and their cheeks furrowed with some 
life-long sorrow. How we long for one 
word from their dear lips ! How we sigh 
when we feel that never again will their 



36 A BETTER COUNTRY 

gentle hands be laid on our brows ! How 
n^iemory reverts and brings again to us the 
dear brother or sister, but now their eyes 
are closed and their lips silent! God 
knows, we would not call them back, but 
how we do miss them ! 

Then some of us have drawn the death 
cloth over the dear young white faces of 
our lovely children. The great Master 
plucked them from the garden of our hearts 
while they wxre yet fresh with the dews 
of morning and transplanted them into 
that blessed, blooming Paradise above. 
The little crib, vacant chair, half-worn 
shoes, and a dozen little toys remind us 
of the one who brought so much sunshine 
into our lives. But then that day of sick- 
ness ; the doctor and nurse looked anxious. 
Finally the worst came. It nearly broke our 
hearts, and we have never fully recovered 
from it. 

"When we see a precious blossom, 
That we tended with such care, 

Rudely taken from our bosom, 
How our aching hearts despair! 



A BETTER COUNTRY 37 

Round its little grave we linger, 

Till the setting sun is low, 
Feeling all our hopes have perished 

With the flow'r we cherished so." 

As life rolls on, and we rapidly approach 
the grave, what a sense of loneliness 
creeps over us ! We have been led to ex- 
claiml many times, "Thank God, there will 
be no separation in Heaven !'' 

When the late Dr. DeWitt stood at the 
grave of his wife, and while the body was 
being lowered to its resting place, the 
venerable man of God leaned over the open 
space and cried out : "Farewell, my hon- 
ored, faithful, beloved wife. The bond 
that bound us here is severed. Thou art 
in Glory, I am still on earth. Farewell, 
farewell; but dear, precious wife, we will 
soon meet again." 

"We shall part but not forever 

At the lone and silent grave; 
Blessed be the Lord that taketh, 

Blessed be the Lord that gave. 
In the bright Eternal City, 

Death can never never come ; 
In His own good time He'll gather 

From our rest to home, sweet home." 



38 A BETTER COUNTRY 

III. Some Things That Heaven 
Will Be 

(i) A Land of Song. John said, "I 
heard as it were the voice of a great mul- 
titude, the voice of many waters, and as 
the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, 
'Hallelujah, for the Lord God omnipotent 
reigneth !' " 

1. Note its singers. All the sweet 
singers of Israel, perhaps David leading 
the list, and then Cowper, Charles Wesley, 
Toplady, the blind singer, Fanny Crosby, 
and all the rest of the redeemed singers of 
earth will be there to swell the chorus. 

2. The number of its singers, John 
said that the number of this chorus was so 
great that the mighty volume of song was 
like the sounding of many waters, and as 
the lumbering roll of thunder. Some 
years ago the State of Kentucky had a 
great **Home Coming.'* Her ex-sons and 
daughters from all over the land were in- 



A BETTER COUNTRY 39 

vited to visit again the old Blue-grass 
State, the home of their nativity. An im- 
portant part of the program was the 
unveiling of the statue of Stephen Foster, 
the writer of the world-famed piece, *^My 
Old Kentucky Home." Twenty-five thou- 
sand people gathered in the great armory 
in Louisville to witness this event. When 
the hour arrived, two of the beautiful 
belles of Kentucky, clad in white, walked 
out on a great platform, and began slowly * 
to draw back a silken coverlet. Just at 
that time, a brass band of one hundred and 
fifty or more pieces started up "My Old 
Kentucky Home,'' and twenty-five thou- 
sand people suddenly began to sing the old 
song, loved so dearly by all Kentuckians. 
No one can imagine the mighty volume of 
music from this tremendous choir of 
twenty-five thousand singers. It seemed 
literally to lift me off my feet. The effect 
was like the shock of an electric battery. 
There was scarcely a dry eye in all that 
great company. 



40 A BETTER COUNTRY 

All the time I was thinking of that great 
"Home Coming'' beyond the stars, when 
the sons and daughters of Jehovah from 
the North and South and from the East 
and West shall come marching in, not 
only coming to the soul's native Home, 
but coming to witness the great Corona- 
tion of the King of Kings. There the 
glory and magnificence of the God-head 
will be unveiled. There all the wondrous 
mysteries of redemptive scheme will begin 
to burst on our clarified vision. Twenty- 
five thousand seems a large chorus, but 
what IS that compared with the number 
who will then sing "Redemption's Story" ? 
John said that the company of singers was 
so large that no man could number them. 
Man has numbered the inhabitants of this 
world. The present population is i,6oo,- 
000,000, and that great chorus whose 
songs of praise shall roll through the 
vaulted Heavens, will greatly exceed this 
vast number. 



A BETTER COUNTRY 41 

3. Note the song that they sing. The 
Bible says that, "It is a new song/' The 
angels sang about His glory, wisdom, 
honor, power, might, and blessing, but this 
mighty chorus sings, *'But unto Him who 
has loved us and redeemed us from sin in 
His own blood and made us kings and 
priests unto God and his Father, to Him 
be glory and dominion forever and for- 
ever." Abel was the first one that ever 
sang this new song. He was the first 
martyr who was ever slain on the altar of 
jealousy and was saved by faith in the 
prospective Christ. He was the first soul 
the angels ever came after, the first one 
who ever told the redemptive story to the 
angels, and the first man to sing this song, 
*'Saved by grace.'' Since that time what 
a vast multitude have joined this company 
of "new-song'' singers! 

4. Note the theme of their song. Is 
it morality, good works, or evolution ? No, 
it says "They cried with a loud voice; 



42 A BETTER COUNTRY 

'SALVATION, SALVATION unto our 
God and the Lamb'." Are they singing 
about his wonderful example, His match- 
less ministry of mercy, His unparalleled 
system of philosophy, or His astonishing 
miracles ? No, they are all orthodox ; they 
are singing about the blood. So, then, 
the theme of the church militant and the 
eternal song of the church triumlphant is 
''Salvation through the precious merits of 
the Redeemer's blood." 

(2) It is a Land of Purity. John sees 
them march around the refulgent throne 
of God. What a spectacular company! 
They have come from all nations, kindred, 
peoples, and tongues ; they are clothed with 
the snow-white robes of spotless purity, 
and have palms of victory in their hands. 
When the angels behold this long looked 
for event, this, the crowning glory of 
earth and Heaven, the Word says that 
they fall down on their faces, and just 
simply worship God, saying, "Amen, 



A BETTER COUNTRY 43 

Amen." John, looking on, asked the ques- 
tion, "Who are these?'' One high in au- 
thority in the heavenly universe said, 
'These are they who have come up out of 
much tribulation, and have washed their 
robes and made them white in the blood of 
the Lamb." So, then, Heaven is a land 
of purity. 

( 3 ) The Place of Happy Reunions. I 
believe that there will be three great 
family reunions in Heaven. 

I. Our own flesh and blood. Every 
one of us have loved ones in Heaven. 
There is not a family whose circle is un- 
broken. Death has entered every one of 
our homes and taken a father, mother, 
brother, sister, son, or daughter. We all 
know something of that vacant chair or 
crib. They told us "good-by" in this 
world, and the last word was *'meet me in 
Heaven." One of the great attractions of 
that place will be the joy of seeing and 
knowing our dear loved ones. Some 



44 A BETTER COUNTRY 

years ago I visited my old home in the 
State of Kentucky. After having had a 
pleasant time for a number of weeks, the 
time came for me to bid farewell to my 
relatives and take the train for a distance 
of thirteen hundred miles, nearly half way 
across the continent. My brothers and 
sisters were all weeping. My good old 
mother came in and said to us children, 
"Let us not weep, let us dry our tears." 
She said to me, "Go on in God's name, 
preach the Gospel.'' Let us all live for 
God, and by and by we shall strike hands 
on the golden shore, and be united to part 
no more. 

2. Those with whom we have lived, 
loved, and labored in our generation. I 
know them all over the country, and I 
expect to know them all in Heaven. Many 
with whom we have preached, prayed, 
wept, cried, and shouted; we have shared 
each other's joys and sorrows; we have 
stood shoulder to shoulder in this great 



A BETTER COUNTRY 45 

conflict against sin and Satan; by-and-by 
when the smoke-covered battle-field shall 
be exchanged for the jubilant and raptu- 
rous ''Home Coming," this blessed family 
will be reunited in Heaven. 

3. The great family of God of all ages 
who have lived any time in the world's 
history. The Bible speaks of them as 
''the whole family/' We shall meet those 
who loved God and who lived and toiled 
for Him before history had inscribed her 
imperishable records and ere tradition's 
thick, dark speech was spoken. We shall 
rejoice with those who lived in the misty 
twilight of time; with those who lived in 
the dewy morning of the world; and, on 
down across the centuries the tried and 
true of all lands and climes, and of all 
ages and periods. They will all be 
there, — the great family of God, and what 
a great family this will be! What dis- 
tinguished brothers and sisters we have! 
In God's great family record book, their 



46 A BETTER COUNTRY 

names are all written. We have one 
brother in our family who is the father of 
many nations, — Brother Abraham. We 
have another who was the greatest lawyer, 
law-giver and legislator the world ever 
saw. He lifted his sinewy, swarthy hand 
at the Red Sea, and that mighty body of 
water, twelve miles wide and eighty-five 
feet deep, rolled back on either side, so 
that Israel's fleeing host marched through 
dry shod. He smote the rock, and its 
sparkling water gushed forth to slake the 
thirsty millions. He was learned in all 
the wisdom of Egypt as well as the wisdom 
of God, — Brother Moses. We have an- 
other one who could arrest the sun in its 
course that he might have more time in 
which to fight God's battle, — Brother 
Joshua. 

We have still another who was so 
learned that he became the head prince 
of a great kingdom, and was so pious that 
his enemies put him' in a lion's den, but 
God locked their jaws and gave him such 



A BETTER COUNTRY 47 

a mighty deliverance that he revolution- 
ized the whole kingdom, — Brother Daniel. 
Three more would not bow their knee to 
gold, were bound and fettered and cast 
into a fiery furnace, but the fourth, like 
the Son of God, went with them in the fire, 
and neutralized its flames, delivering them 
so marvellously that not a hair was singed 
or the smell of smoke left on their gar- 
ments, — the three Hebrew brothers. An- 
other, who was greater than a thousand 
Herculeses, carried off the gate of a great 
city on his shoulders; seized the jawbone 
of an ass, and slew a thousand of the 
Lord's enemies, stood between the pillars 
of a great temple and brought it with a 
mighty crash to the ground, — Brother 
Samson. Another, who flung worlds 
from His fingers, was born in Bethlehem 
of Judea; whose voice winds obeyed; at 
whose command the dead leaped to life. 
He was crucified on a cross, incarcerated 
in the City of Death, burst its bars, carried 
off its gates, ascended on high, and became 



48 A BETTER COUNTRY 

our Friend at the right hand of God 
forever, — Our Elder Brother, JESUS 
CHRIST. In this great family book, if 
you are saved by grace, you will find your 
name on this distinguished record. This 
great family will all meet in Heaven. 



A BETTER COUNTRY 49 

rV. Some of the Attractions 
of Heaven 

( I ) The Angelic Host. With wonder 
and amazement we shall behold them, — 
column after column, and rank after rank 
of these shining servants of God. We 
shall then understand the wondrous mys- 
tery of their creation, their nature and 
work. In this great and glorious throng, 
there will be the cherubim and seraphim, 
angels and archangels, whose counte- 
nances are radiant with celestial glory. 
They rejoiced before the morning stars 
sang together, before the countless con- 
stellations were reared in space ; with won- 
der and amazement they beheld the mar- 
vellous creative ingenuity of God in the 
creation of these myriads of worlds. They 
have been around for a long while, and 
there will be many things of interest with 
which they are thoroughly familiar. It 
seems that there are some of this great 
number who will be especially interesting. 



50 A BETTER COUNTRY 

What will it be to see those who stood 
at Abraham's tent? Those visiting Lot, 
and telHng him to flee from the wrath- 
doorded city? The angel that swept over 
Egypt that dark night and left slain the 
first-born in every home upon whose door- 
post there was no blood ? The angel that 
fought for Israel and slew one hundred 
and eighty-five thousand Assyrians in one 
night ? The great company in their char- 
iots of fire with drawn, flaming swords 
covering the Assyrian hills, guarding and 
protecting the servant of God, — Elisha? 

Will it not be interesting to acquaint 
ourselves with the twelve legions (seventy- 
two thousand) who were Christ's body 
guard? With those who sung Him from 
Glory and made the hills and plains re- 
verberate with their glad hallelujahs as 
they sang the redemption song to the 
group of trembling shepherds on the 
Judean hills; who ministered to Him in 
the hour of trial and temptation among 
the wild beasts of the wilderness ; who sus- 



A BETTER COUNTRY 51 

tained Him in the dark sad hour of soul 
anguish in the lonely solitude of Geth- 
semane's garden, and who would have 
with one word from their Commander an- 
nihilated His enemies ? It will, indeed, be 
interesting to see the white-clad angels 
who rolled the Roman-sealed stone away, 
and the great company with silver-tipped 
wings that surrounded Him on the vic- 
torious summit of Mount Olivet and who 
with their glad hosannas shouted Him 
back through the pearly portals to His 
heavenly home. 

God tells us in His Word that the angels 
are going to be the reapers in the Judg- 
ment Day. He says again, "They are 
ministering spirits sent forth to minister 
for them who shall be the heirs of salva- 
tion." They have witnessed the strug- 
gles, conflicts, and victories of this old bat- 
tlefield for centuries. Oh, what a distin- 
guished and interesting company this will 
be! Will they not be one of the awe- 



52 A BETTER COUNTRY 

inspiring attractions of our heavenly 
home? 

(2) The Old Testament Saints. The 
great number of patriarchs and prophets 
who stood on tiptoe and peered down 
through the ages and rejoiced to see the 
glorious day of Christ. They were saved 
by faith in the Christ that was to come. 
See them enter with a mighty shout of 
triumph! Here they come — the sacra- 
mental host ! What swelling, shining col- 
umns! There is Moses, who, when on 
earth, looked into the face of God, and 
whose face shone with so much celestial 
glory that people dare not look at him, 
but now he shines with greater lustre than 
the morning star! There is Enoch, who 
walked with God without a break for three 
hundred years. There is Elijah, who had 
such power with God and power with the 
people, and who went to Heaven in a 
chariot of fire. There is Daniel, who 
laughed at roaring lions, and went true 



A BETTER COUNTRY 53 

to his God. There are the three Hebrew 
children, who defied the fiery furnace, and 
kept a perpendicular character. There is 
Job (the patient) who elbowed his way 
through sorrows and afflictions, and who 
looked into the far distant future and 
shouted as he saw his Redeemer. There 
is Isaiah (the evangelistic prophet) who 
was sawed asunder. There is John the 
Baptist, the last prophet, the leather- 
girdled, bronze - browed, bare - headed, 
swift-footed forerunner of Jesus Christ, 
whose head was fed to hungry dogs be- 
cause he was true to truth and true to 
God. Hear the tramp, tramp, tramp, of 
this army whose white, unfurled banners 
are emblazoned with eternal victory; who 
have fought the fight, won the prize and 
are Home at last ! 

(3) The New Testament Saints. Mary, 
the mother of Jesus, honored above all the 
women of the earth. There we shall be- 
hold the wonderful Matthew, Mark, and 



54 A BETTER COUNTRY 

Luke; the impetuous and thundering 
Peter! What a revival flame he was! 
When very old, he was led to the cross and 
at his own request was crucified with his 
head downward. There is guileless Na- 
thanael from the town of Cana, careful 
and conservative James, and the sublime 
and lovable John. Here comes the first 
New Testament martyr, the mighty Pente- 
costal preacher, Stephen. He died on the 
cold ground under a coverlet of stones 
from the hands of an angry mob, his face 
shining with angelic radiance as he caught 
a glimpse of his glorious Lord awaiting 
him at Heaven's glittering gateway. Here 
comes Brother Paul, the Lord's signal 
standard-bearer. What a ceaseless toiler 
he has been! He has thrilled thousands 
with his eloquence and logic, and before 
him kings and thrones have trembled. He 
had a bent form and a squeaky voice, but 
now he stands erect and his voice is like 
the peal of thunder. On his glorified body 
are marks of suffering and sacrifice. In 



A BETTER COUNTRY 55 

that illustrious and exalted company, he 
resembles his Master perhaps the most of 
all. One bright morning, this battle- 
scarred veteran of the cross was led by a 
group of soldiers three miles from the 
ancient city of Rome. His neck was laid 
across a block, and a strong soldier un- 
sheathed his sword and with one merciless 
stroke decapitated his great head ; but now 
God crowns him with a glory that an arch- 
angel would covet. Will it not add to the 
glory of that blessed world to meet all these 
and many others whose names are in the 
Book of Life, who lived in the times of 
Christ's earthly ministry, many of whom 
were healed from a dreadful disease, or 
raised from the dead by His power; who 
fought the fight, kept the faith, and now 
join in the celebration of this universal 
victory ? 

(4) The Great Army of Martyrs. This 
special company have sealed their faith 
with their own blood. This army, who 



S6 A BETTER COUNTRY 

have defied fire and flood, wicked men and 
malignant devils. They who have heard 
the snarl and growl of the lion and leop- 
ard, who prayed and rejoiced when the 
blackened flesh was literally falling from 
their bones. 

It IS said that Lamberton, the great 
English teacher, and one of the martyrs 
of the 1 6th century, when brought from 
prison into the inner chamber, where he 
was told the hour of his death was at hand, 
cheerfully saluted all present, and sat 
down and ate a hearty breakfast, showing 
neither fear nor badness. Immediately 
after his meal he was led to the place of 
execution, where a great curiosity-seeking 
crowd had gathered, expecting to see him 
recant and beg for mercy. The manner 
of his death was simply horrible. First, 
his legs were burnt off, leaving nothing 
but two charred stumps; standing up on 
these blackened stumps, and lifting his 
arms as far as the chains would allow 
him, his voice rang out in exultant victory 



A BETTER COUNTRY 57 

as he shouted, ''Nothing but Jesus; noth- 
ing but Jesus." In order to terminate this 
praise meeting in the furnace of fire, his 
enemies sprang on him and stabbed him 
to death with their swords. The last 
words that fell from his dying lips were, 
"Nothing but Jesus/' 

John Huss, the great scholar and Bo- 
hemian reformer, when brought to the 
place of execution, and when the blue 
flames were hissing and wrapping about 
his body, while he suffered the awfulness 
of being roasted to death, clapped his 
hands three times and saluted his friend 
and co-laborer in the crowd, and cried, 
"George! George! George! Tell to the 
world that anywhere with Jesus it is all 
right !'' 

I saw the martyr at the stake, 

The flames could not his courage shake, 

Nor death his soul appall ; 
I asked him whence his strength was giv'n — 
He looked triumphantly to Heav'n, 

And answered "Christ is all." 



58 A BETTER COUNTRY 

In the third century we read of a young 
girl who, while witnessing the execution 
of a friend, rushed in before the executors 
and testified to the saving power of Jesus, 
and defied them and their cruel tortures. 
They ordered her to be whipped, thinking 
that this would cool her ardor. She re- 
joiced while the lash lacerated her tender 
body. The persecutors, enraged, deter- 
mined to conquer her. She was stretched 
upon a table and her sides were torn with 
hooks and flaming torches were stuck in 
the holes. Her agony was indescribable, 
but she prayed, ''Lord Jesus, hear my 
prayer and give me grace, perfect Thy 
work in me, and bid me be numbered 
among the elect in that great rest of 
life eternal.'' By and by it seemed that 
the shekinah cloud of God's ineffable glory 
rested upon her, and suddenly her exultant 
soul leaped from her poor, suffering body 
and sped to the very bosom of God. Her 
triumph was so glorious that many others 
were converted to the faith, and this so 



A BETTER COUNTRY 59 

enraged the persecutors that they ordered 
that her body should hang upon the rack 
to be devoured by the birds. 

A mother had her seven sons led out to 
be martyred. When the flames were de- 
vouring their v^rithing bodies and licking 
up their very life's blood, she v^ent from 
one to another, exhorting them to be true 
to God. 

And this great army of victorious nmr- 
tyrs, — what a glory they will add to the 
great Home of the saints! Here they 
come. Two hundred thousand of them, 
slain in the 13th century by Pope Julian. 
Here comes another company of one hun- 
dred thousand Huguenots, massacred in 
three months by the bloody soldiers of 
France, and still another company from 
the 13th century, the Waldenses, one mil- 
lion strong. Another of nine hundred 
thousand who were murdered in thirty 
years by the Jesuits. Still another of 
thirty-six tHousand, who were hung by 
the Duke of Alva, and one hundred and 



6o A BETTER COUNTRY 

fifty thousand from Spain, Portugal, and 
Italy, who died for Jesus' sake in the 'Tn- 
quisition,'' and one hundred and fifty thou- 
sand from the Irish massacre in the 13th 
century, besides the great multitudes of 
whomi the world has never known, pre- 
senting an army of nearly seventy-five mil- 
lion in number, nearly as large as the 
entire population of the United States. 

They were banished, burned, starved, 
buried alive, smothered, drowned, rent 
limb from limb by instruments of cruelty, 
torn into shreds by wild beasts, and 
thrown into dungeons with hissing, poi- 
sonous, venomous reptiles; but now, 
blessed be God, it is all over forever, and 
they come swinging through the ^vide- 
open gates of the Holy City, their heavenly 
Home. Oh, what shouting and clapping 
as they march through ! No more stakes, 
no more dark, dreary dungeons ; no more 
to hear the snarl and growl of wild beasts, 
the hissing sting of poisonous serpents; 
no more unjust trials and cruel mlockings 



A BETTER COUNTRY 6i 

and scourgings ; but now the long-panted- 
after goal is past, and they are crowned 
with eternal life and immortal glory. 

(5) Our Own Loved Ones. The poet 
well said : 

"When we asunder part ; 

It gives us Inward pain ; 
But we shall still be join'd in heart, 
And hope to meet again." 

I have one sister whom I have never seen 
in this world, and I long to see her in 
Heaven, and still another sister who 
slipped out of this old world and went to 
be with Jesus, and left on record the fact 
that she was going. I never expect to 
see her again in this world. I shall be 
delighted to see her on that ever-green 
shore. 

I read a little story just recently which 
I believe will illustrate the unspeakable 
rapture of meeting our loved ones in 
Heaven. 

A ship left France for the East Indies 
on a voyage that extended over a period 



62 A BETTER COUNTRY 

of several years. By-and-by, heavily 
laden, she started on her return trip. As 
the crew approached their native country, 
their joy was so great that they almost lost 
control of themselves. They climbed the 
rigging and peered into the distance, look- 
ing for the outlines of the familiar moun- 
tains and hills of their homeland. As 
they dimly loomed up in the distance, one 
cried, "Yonder it is." As they came 
nearer and nearer and the tops of the old 
hills and towers came in view, they could 
contain themselves no longer. When the 
vessel entered the harbor, and they saw 
their friends and relatives stretching forth 
their hands to embrace them, many of 
them leaped from the ship and literally 
swam to the shore and fell into the open 
arms of their dear ones who had looked 
and waited so long for their return. 

Beloved, the old ship is now on a long 
voyage, seeking immortal gems with 
which to enrich the Master's imperishable 
crown. "Staunch are her timbers, brave 



A BETTER COUNTRY 63 

is her Captain, trusty her crew/' She has 
made many trips and made them safely. 
She has landed millions, and they are wait- 
ing for us. The old ship will soon bear 
us over the storm-tossed sea to the native 
clime of our Father-land. 

We cannot imagine the joy that will 
thrill our hearts when we shall run into 
the open arms of those who are watching, 
waiting, and longing for us at the end of 
life's tempestuous voyage. The anticipa- 
tion of this happy meeting fills our eyes 
with tenderest tears and our hearts with 
holiest emotions. 

(6) The Last and Greatest Attraction 
will be Jesus. He will be Heaven's morn- 
ing star. He will be the great centre 
around which all of these other splendors 
and glories will revolve. Angels, arch- 
angels, seraphim and cherubim, as well as 
all the great, glorified company of saints 
and all other holy intelligences will come 



64 A BETTER COUNTRY 

falling at His feet, crowning him Lord 
of all. 

I imagine that the redeemed will sing: 

"All hail the pow'r of Jesus' name! 
Let angels prostrate fall." 

And the angels, hiding their blushing 
faces behind their silvery wings, will 
respond : 

"Bring forth the royal diadem 
And crown Him Lord of all." 

Otie veteran of the cross said that he 
wanted the first thousand years to look 
into the face of Jesus. As great as will 
be Heaven itself, its jewelled walls, its 
streets of gold, its eternal sun-kissed hills, 
its deathless atmosphere, the ravishing 
song of angels ; as great as are these and 
as mkich to be longed after, they will not 
compare with the joy of catching one 
glimpse of Jesus. Indeed there would be 
no Heaven without Christ. Should we 
get there and view its unspeakable beau- 
ties, look upon its refulgent and burnished 



A BETTER COUNTRY 65 

throne, and view rank after rank of shin- 
ing beings, if there were no Christ there, 
we would be sad, lonely, disappointed for- 
ever. Thank God, He will be there to 
give life, beauty, and glory to all of these 
other attractions! My eyes shall behold 
Him! I shall hear His voice! I shall 
look into His face! 

"When my life's work is ended, and I cross the 

swelling tide, 

And the bright and glorious morning I shall see, 

I shall know my Redeemer, when I reach the 

other side, 

And His smile will be the first to welcome me." 

If there were nothing else in Heaven to 
add to its attractions, the very presence of 
our living, loving, and conquering Christ 
would be enough to tune our souls to the 
joy and music of endless years. I want to 
see the angels. I so much desire to see 
the old patriarchs and prophets who 
walked with God in the twilight of the 
world's history. It will be a great joy to 
see those whom Christ raised from the 



66 A BETTER COUNTRY 

dead, those with whom Christ labored 
when here on earth, and the great army of 
martyrs who were true to their Lord unto 
death. I want to see my mother, who first 
taught me to lisp the name of Jesus, and 
my dear sister, who made me promise to 
meet her in Heaven, and my two noble 
brothers, who in the zenith of their man- 
hood were cut down by the cruel hand 
of death and are now waiting just inside 
the peaceful portals, but, oh, above all, I 
want to see Jesus ! Yes, Jesus Christ, the 
Son of Mary, the Son of God, the God- 
man, the Friend of sinners, and the Re- 
deemer of the world, will be Heaven's 
central and climacteric glory. 

"Face to face with Christ my Saviour, 

Face to face what will it be, 
When in rapture I behold Him, 

Jesus Christ who died for me? 

Only faintly now I see Him 

With a darkening veil between, 

But a blessed day is coming 
When His glory shall be seen. 



A BETTER COUNTRY 67 

What rejoicing in His presence 
When are banished grief and pain, 

And the crooked ways are straightened 
And the dark things are made plain. 

Face to face with Christ my Saviour, 
Face to face to see and know, 

Face to face in all His glory, 
Jesus Christ who loved me so. 

Face to face shall I behold Him, 

Far beyond the starry sky, 
Face to face in all His glory, 

I shall see Him by and by." 

I read a story of a man, who, when 
dying, turned to a devoted, loving daugh- 
ter, who was watching over her sick father 
with the vigilance of an angel. Said he, 
"Bring !" His strength failed him. Then 
the broken-hearted daughter with tears 
streaming down her face said, "Dear 
father, what shall I bring?" 

"Bring!" — and his voice failed him 
again. The dear daughter, bending lov- 
ingly over the bed of the dying man, said : 
"Father, dear, precious father, tell your 



68 A BETTER COUNTRY 

child what you want. I will bring you 
anything that I can." The dying saint 
rallied all of his strength and whispered, 

"Bring forth the royal diadem 
And crown Him Lord of all." 

This is not only the sweet sentiment of 
earth, but will be the universal sentiment 
of Heaven. 

It is said that when King George the 
Third was crowned and invested with all 
his royal dignity, that all the peers were 
allowed the privilege of putting on their 
crowns, so that it gave the appearance that 
they were all kings. Soon every one came 
and laid his crown at his sovereign's feet, 
in testimony of his having no power or 
authority but that which he received from 
him. Then each of them kissed his sceptre 
and it is said that the king allowed each 
of them to kiss him, after which he picked 
up the crowns at his feet and replaced 
them upon the brows of his loving sub- 
ordinates. So, in Heaven, we will take 
our gem-bestudded crowns and lay them 



A BETTER COUNTRY 69 

at His pierced feet and cry, "Unworthy, 
unworthy, but worthy, worthy is the Lamb 
that was slain," and our blessed Lord, 
lifting us, will replace the crowns of glory 
and eternal life on our immortal brows 
and grant us the wondrous privilege of 
being His loving subordinates forever. 

So many times I have endeavored to 
draw some idea of some of the things that 
will attend that triumphal procession in 
the last day. My soul seems to have 
faintly grasped the vision, but oh, it has 
been so difficult to put the thoughts into 
poor, weak words. In undertaking this, 
one feels very much like a boy standing 
on tip-toe at the foot of a great mountain 
range, straining with all his might to see 
what is on the other side. Much that we 
may say as to what will take place in the 
celebration of this wondrous event is, after 
all, largely conjectural and speculative, 
but still, from what we read and feel, we 
can not help but draw some mental pic- 
tures. Contrasting the culmination of 



70 A BETTER COUNTRY 

this world's conflict and the dawn of 
Heaven's cloudless day with the things we 
see about us, we get a faint idea of some 
things that might take place. 

Some of the great "Home Comings" of 
earth with their extravagant celebrations, 
stirring music, flying, fluttering banners, 
long lines of marching columns, thousands 
of eager, awe-inspired onlookers, with 
their heroes, and with one commanding 
person at the head, have at times set a 
whole nation wild with enthusiasm. There 
will be many noble heroes in Heaven, but 
Jesus Christ will be the chief. In that 
great heavenly procession, will not angels 
be in the line of march ? Yes, as they are 
ministering servants, I imagine they will 
all turn out and lead the way. Next in 
order, it seems, would be the shining col- 
umns of Old Testament saints; following 
on, with a mighty shout, are the New 
Testament warriors; keeping step, and 
singing the sweet song of eternal deliver- 
ance, are the martyrs; then every saint 



A BETTER COUNTRY 71 

from the martyrs to the end of the world. 
Who knows but that these milHons of 
starry worlds will be so many glittering 
galleries from which myriads of holy, 
happy, unfallen beings will view with un- 
precedented wonder and amazement the 
supernal glory of this spectacular event? 
They march on through the gates, and veil 
their happy faces as they begin to encircle 
the great white throne, the centre of the 
heavenly universe. 

Suddenly the whole heavenly world 
seems to rock and quiver with living paeans 
of indescribable music. Every being and 
every instrument seems to be employed. 
The great organ of eternity is thundering 
its tremulous tones; every golden harp 
chord is vibrating with the most ex- 
quisite music; all the silvery bells from 
their golden domes are ringing out a 
merry peal; Heaven's immortal bands 
are rolling forth their loudest, sweetest 
strains; the immortal choirs shout the 
song of the Lamb. Everything in Heaven 



72 A BETTER COUNTRY 

is pouring forth unutterable music. It 
seems to ripple from Heaven's mirror- 
ing streams, dash, splash, and sparkle 
from its crystal fountains, lumber and 
roll from its eternal hills, and crash and 
burst in great, harmonious strains from 
every niche, and corner, and sweep in 
mighty volume to every part of Heaven's 
vast domain! 

What meaneth this tremendous and 
tumultuous outburst of holy rapture? 
What meaneth these fluttering banners 
and shouting host? What meaneth the 
waving of these victorious palms ? Why, 
the King ! The King ! The King eternal 
is riding through. With simultaneous 
accord, this surging, rapturous concourse 
gives way, and the attention of the entire 
universe is turned upon Him. Suddenly 
this mighty host begins to chant, *'Lift 
up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye 
lift up, ye everlasting doors ; and the King 
of glory shall come in. Who is this King 
of glory? The Lord strong and mighty. 



A BETTER COUNTRY 73 

the Lord mighty in battle; the Lord of 
hosts, he is the King of glory !" 

Behold, He cometh! Every eye eager 
to see Him ! Everyone eager to fall at His 
feet ! He rides the white horse of universal 
triumph ! Every sceptre is in His blessed 
hand ! Every diadem bedecks His glitter- 
ing brow ! Everyone knows Him. In His 
hands and feet are nail prints. Of this 
vast, white robed throng, He is the only 
one whose vesture is dipped in blood. In 
rapid succession, he rides by rank after 
rank of shining beings, and finally reaches 
the throne of God, the Father, and delivers 
up the purchase of His blood, the spoils 
from this world gathered by years of 
bloody conquest. Taking these immortal 
trophies before this assembled and admir- 
ing universe, and weaving them into a 
crown amid the greatest outburst of 
shouts that Heaven has ever known, God, 
the Father, places it upon the brow of 
"Earth's Redeemer" and "Heaven's 
Hero.'^ 



74 A BETTER COUNTRY 

"When Jesus is crowned the King of all Kings, 

I want to be there, don't you ? 
With shouting and singing till all Heaven rings, 

I want to be there, don't you? 

Here language fails. Here imagina- 
tion folds its wings. Here thought reels, 
staggers, and falls by the way side. Here 
we would like to borrow the eloquence of 
a flaming seraph. Will this not be the 
fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy? ''He shall 
see the travail of his soul and be satisfied.'' 



A BETTER COUNTRY 75 

V. The Way to Heaven, or Heaven's 

Fitness 

Let me call your attention in connection 
with this thought to Hebrews 12:14. 
"Without holiness no man shall see the 
Lord." Rev. WilHam Jones, M.D., D.D., 
LL. D., commenting on this scripture, said, 
"the simplest interpretation of this text 
emphasizes the fact that Heaven is a holy 
place, and that if we would enter or enjoy 
Heaven, we must, as a pre-requisite, ob- 
tain holiness. This plain, simple state- 
ment from the word of God forever shuts 
the gate of Heaven to every one that is not 
holy. It clearly teaches us that all of us 
are excluded who have not come into this 
grace." 

Dr. Jones, commenting again, says, "the 
apostle affirms that no man, great or small, 
learned or ignorant, cultured or uncouth, 
sage or sensualist, king or peasant, priest 
or prophet, shall enter Heaven except that 
he shall first have been made holy." 



76 A BETTER COUNTRY 

Let us imagine that I am a truth seeker, 
I am weary and tired of this world, I have 
heard of this better Country, and I have 
an earnest desire to reach it and dwell 
forever inside its peaceful portals. I de- 
sire information regarding the fitness re- 
quired to enter there. To whom shall I 
go? First I go to God, the infinite, eter- 
nal sovereign of the universe ; I fall down 
before Him and pray, ^'O God, thou hast 
created me, thou dost know all things in 
Heaven and in earth. I desire this better 
country; I desire the moral fitness neces- 
sary to enjoy it. Show me the way." He 
speaks to me and says, "Be ye holy, for 
I am holy. I ami holy in character and in 
purpose. If you would live in my presence 
forever, you must be holy.'' 

I go to Jesus Christ, the eternal, ever- 
existent Son ; I fall down before Him and 
say, "Oh Jesus, thou, the great Fountain- 
head of light, love, and truth; thou art a 
Friend and Saviour of sinners. I am sick 
of this world. I desire a better life and a 



' A BETTER COUNTRY ^7 

better Country. Teach me the way!'* 
He speaks to me and says, ''Blessed are 
the pure in heart, for they shall see God." 

I turn to the Holy Spirit, the omnipotent, 
omnipresent, third Person of the Trinity, 
and beseech Him with longing heart, 
"Show me the truth. Thou blessed Com- 
forter ; thou gracious executive of the God- 
head, tell me, oh tell me, what must I have 
to enter Heaven and dwell in that peaceful 
Land forever ?" Back comes the answer, 
"Down through the ages, was it not proph- 
esied of me that I should 'sit as a refiner 
of silver, and bestow upon all who met 
the requirements this glorious baptism of 
heart-cleansing power, purifying their 
hearts by faith?' Yea, verily." 

I go to the inspired Word, the great 
Chart to direct men to Heaven. I peruse 
its sacred pages carefully, and lo, I dis- 
cover from its Genesis to its Revelation it 
speaks to me about a holy God ; about holy , 
angels, about a holy Heaven, and about 
the blood of Christ that was shed to make 



78 A BETTER COUNTRY 

me holy and thus bring me in harmony 
with all other holy intelligences! I find 
in its sacred pages, holiness in the pur- 
pose and will of God, holiness promised, 
holiness abundantly provided for in the 
meritorious blood of Jesus; and, to my 
utter astonishment, I find that the great, 
eternal God has bound himself with an ir- 
revocable oath that he would grant unto 
us (if we would meet certain conditions), 
this inestimable blessing that brings com- 
plete happiness here and prepares us for 
that better Country yonder. 

Is it any wonder that Dr. Foster said, 
^Tt breathes in the prophecy, thunders in 
the law, murmurs in the narrative, whis- 
pers in the promises, supplicates in the 
prayers, resounds in the songs, sparkles in 
the poetry, shines in the types, glows in 
the imagery, and burns in the spirit, of 
the whole scheme, from its alpha to its 
omega, — its beginning to its end. Holi- 
ness ! Holiness needed ! Holiness required ! 
Holiness ofifered! Holiness attainable! 



A BETTER COUNTRY 79 

Holiness a present duty, a present privi- 
lege, a present enjoyment, is the progress 
and completeness of its wondrous theme! 
It is the truth glowing all over and voicing 
all through revelation ; singing and shout- 
ing in all its history and biography, and 
poetry, and prophecy, and precept, and 
promise, and prayer; the great central 
truth of the system. * * * * jf Qgd 
has spoken at all it is to aid men to be holy. 
The wonder is that all do not see, that any 
rise up to question, a truth so conspicuous, 
so glorious, so full of comifort.'' 

Dr. Jones said that holiness is not 
obscurely hidden away in the more import- 
ant truths of the Bible. It is conspicuous 
everywhere in the Word of God. From 
what we read in the Bible, one might as 
well think of going to Europe without a 
vessel as of going to Heaven without holi- 
ness. One might as well think of living 
without atmosphere as living in Heaven 
without being holy. But what do you 
mean by holiness? Holiness in thought, 



8o A BETTER COUNTRY 

holiness in word, holiness in acts, holiness 
in your public life, holiness in your private 
life, holiness in your secret life, holiness 
from the crown of a man's head to the soles 
of his feet, and to the tips of his middle 
fingers! Without it God says that no 
man, high or low, rich or poor, educated 
or illiterate, shall ever enter Heaven. 
Renown, beauty, comeliness, learning, emi- 
nence, finery, and glitter have great value 
on earth, but will not help one through 
Heaven's pearly gates. The distinguish- 
ing mark, the only thing that will give 
any one a passport through is, "HOLI- 
NESS OF HEART AND LIFE." If 
we would see the angels, we must be holy ! 
If we would see the old patriarchs and 
prophets, we must be holy! If we would 
see the New Testament warriors, we must 
be holy! If we would be happily and 
forever reunited with our dear, loved ones 
we must be holy! If we would see the 
King in all of His marvellous, matchless 
beauty, we must be holy! Yea, verily. 



A BETTER COUNTRY 8i 

across Heaven's gleaming, glittering 
portals, stretches the legend, "WITHOUT 
HOLINESS NO MAN CAN ENTER 
HEREr 

As one has truly said, 

"There is no entrance to the City but 
by the gates, no passage to glory but by 
grace. The wall of this City is said to 
be great and high, — so high that there 
will be no climbing over, so great there 
will be no breaking through, — therefore 
through the gates, or no other way. 

" 'Corruption doth not inherit incorrup- 
tion.' This corrupt man must be regener- 
ated that he may be saved; must be 
sanctified that he may be glorified. Some 
trust to open these gates with golden keys, 
but bribery is rather a key that opens the 
gates of hell. 

"Others have dreamed of no other gate 
but their own righteousness. Poor souls, 
they cannot find the gates because they 
stand in their own light. Others think to 
pass through on other men's merits; as 



82 A BETTER COUNTRY 

well may one bird hope to fly with 
another's wings. Only grace is the gate. 
''Heaven is a glorious place and there- 
fore reserved for gracious men. 'To the 
spirits of just m,en made perfect/ — there 
must be admitted none save they that are 
justified. If you will not pass through 
the gates of holiness in this life, you can 
not enter the City of happiness in the life 
to come. Pass through the gates of grace 
a holy and sanctified soul, and you shall 
not fail of the City of glory." 

Twill always be new, 
Twill never decay. 
There no night ever comes 
'Twill always be day. 
It gladdens my heart 
With a joy that's untold 
To think of that land 
Where we'll never grow old. 



A BETTER COUNTRY 83 

Mtiat 0t^tvi ^abe ^atb iliiout 
^eaben 



First — Heaven a Place 

"Heaven is a place of complete victory 
and glorious triumph. This is the battle- 
field: There is the triumphal procession. 
This is the land of the sword and the 
spear: that is the land of the wreath and 
the crown. This is the land of the garment 
rolled in blood and the dust of the fight; 
that is the land of the trumpet's joyful 
sound ; that is the place of the white robe, 
and of the shout of conquest. Oh, what 
a thrill of joy shall shoot through the 
hearts of all the blessed when their con- 
quests shall be completed in heaven ; when 
death itself, the last of the foes, shall be 
slain ; when Satan shall be dragged captive 
at the chariot- wheels of Christ; when He 
shall have overthrown sin, and trampled 
corruption as the mire of the streets ; when 
the great shout of universal victory shall 
rise from the hearts of all the redeemed." 

C H. Spurgeon. 



84 A BETTER COUNTRY 

'Home' — oh, how sweet is that word! 
What beautiful and tender associations 
cluster thick around it! Compared with 
it, house, mansion, palace, are cold, heart- 
less terms. But 'home!' that word 
quickens the pulse, warms the heart, stirs 
the soul to its depths, makes age feel young 
again, rouses apathy into energy, sustains 
the sailor in his midnight watch, inspires 
the soldier with courage on the field of 
battle, and imparts patient endurance to 
the worn down sons of toil. The thought 
of it has proved a sevenfold shield to 
virtue; the very name of it has been a 
spell to call back the wanderer from the 
paths of vice. And far away, where 
myrtles bloom and palm trees wave, and 
the ocean sleeps upon the coral strands, 
to the exile's fond fancy it clothes the 
naked rock, or stormy shore, or barren 
moor, or wild highland mountain, with 
charms he weeps to think of, and longs 
once more to see. Grace sanctifies these 
lovely affections, and imparts a sacredness 



A BETTER COUNTRY 85 

to the homes of earth by making them 
types of heaven. As a home the believer 
likes to think of it. Thus, when lately 
bending over a dying saint, and expressing 
our sorrow to see him lie so low, with the 
radiant countenance rather of one who has 
just left heaven than one about to enter 
it, he raised himself and clasped his hands, 
and exclaimed in ecstasy, T am going 
home'." 

Dr. Guthrie. 



"A city never built with hands, nor 
hoary with the years of time — a city, whose 
inhabitants no census has numbered — a 
city, through whose streets rush no tides 
of business, nor nodding hearse creeps 
slowly with its burden to the tomb — a city, 
without griefs or graves, without sins or 
sorrows, without births or burials, without 
marriages or mournings — a city which 
glories in having Jesus for its king, angels 
for its guards, saints for its citizens ; whose 
walls are salvation, and whose gates are 
praise." 

Dr. Guthrie. 



86 A BETTER COUNTRY 

"Very often people come to me and say : 
'Mr. Moody, do you think we shall know 
each other in Heaven?' Often the ques- 
tion comes from a mother who has lost a 
dear child, and who wishes to see it again. 
Sometimes it comes from a child who has 
lost a mother, or a father, and who wants 
to recognize them in Heaven. A great 
many people are anxious to know where 
their loved ones are, and whether they 
shall know them when they see them again. 
There is just one verse in Scripture in 
answer to this question, and that is: 'I 
shall be satisfied.' It is all I want to 
know. If I do not know my mother in 
Heaven, do you think I shall be 'satis- 
fied?' My brother who went up there I 
shall see, because I shall be satisfied. We 
shall see all those we loved on earth up 
there, and if we loved them here we shall 
love them ten thousand times more when 
we meet them there. Who gave me love 
for my mother? Who put that love into 
my heart? Then will He not satisfy that 



A BETTER COUNTRY ^7 

love? I shall know her, and better than 
I did here. You will know that child of 
yours when you get there. 

"I haven't any doubt but that I shall 
know all these men whose acquaintance 
I have made in the Bible. We are clearly 
taught that God the Father is there, and 
that He is a person, that He has a location, 
that He lives in Heaven, and that we shall 
see Him and be with Him, because we find 
all through the Scriptures that Christ is 
with the Father, and They are one, and 
His prayer was that His disciples might 
be with Him. Surely we shall know each 
other there.'' 

D. L. Moody. 



(( {• 



T'm coming, mamma.' These were 
among the last words of a young girl 
seventeen years of age whose mother died 
when she was a babe. For three years 
she had been an earnest, devoted Christian. 
After three weeks of illness of typhoid 



88 A BETTER COUNTRY 

fever, it was evident that she was very 
near death. Her father was w^eeping in 
a room adjoining the one in which she 
was lying. She heard him and said, 'Tell 
him not to cry — tell them all not to shed 
a tear for me.' Then after speaking of 
the band of angels all around her she 
added: 'Yes, there's ma — Tm coming ma.* 
and then, 'O, Alaggie,' and thus greeting 
the friends from the other shore, she went 
to be with them and wdth her Saviour. 

"Her words, 'O, Maggie' were the more 
remarkable from the fact that IMaggie 
was a Qousin — also an earnest Christian 
— who had died only two days before, 
and of w^hose death the dying girl had not 
been informed." 



Second — Shall We Know Each 
Other There? 

"A little girl of the ethereal spirit, w^ho 
lost her mother before she could remember, 
would sav to her devoted friends, 'Now 



A BETTER COUNTRY 89 

tell me about my mamma?' She listened 
with delight to the oft-told story. Then 
her request would be to be taken where 
she could see her mother's portrait, upon 
which she would gaze for hours. As she 
was dying, her attentive friend whispered, 
*Do you know me, darling?' but awoke no 
response. Just at the last, while gazing 
upward, she cried, with transport in her 
tone, 'Mother !' and passed to her mother's 
embrace." 



''Little Mary was an attendant of an 
industrial school in New York City. In 
her last moments she sang, 'Come to 
Jesus,' when the angels carried her to 
heaven. 

"Two years afterward the mother died. 
As death drew near she exclaimed, 'Don't 
you hear my child singing? She is sing- 
ing the same sweet song, 'Come to Jesus,' 
that she learned at school'." 



90 A BETTER COUNTRY 

"If this be death, there is no valley. 
This is glorious. I have been within the 
gates and I saw the children, Dwight and 
Irene (his two grandchildren who had 
died). Earth is receding. Heaven is 
approaching. God is calling me.'' 

D. L. Moody. 



Third —Glimpses of Heaven 

Mr. John Holland, the day before he 
died, called for the Bible, saying, "Come, 
O come; death approaches, let us gather 
some flowers to comfort this hour." And 
turning with his own hand to the eighth 
chapter of Romans, he gave the book to 
Mr. Leigh, and bade him read : at the end 
of every verse he paused, and then gave 
the sense, to his own comfort, but more 
to the joy and wonder of his friends. He 
continued his meditations on the eighth of 
Romans, thus read to him, for two hours 
or more when suddenly he said, *'0, stay 
your reading! What brightness is this I 



A BETTER COUNTRY 91 

see? Have you lighted up any candles?" 
Mr. Leigh answered, "No, it is the sun- 
shine;" for it was about five o'clock in a 
clear summer evening. "Sunshine !" said 
he, "nay, it is my Saviour's shine. Now, 
farewell, World; welcome Heaven. The 
Day-star fromi on high hath visited my 
heart. O, speak it when I am gone, and 
preach it at my funeral! God dealeth 
familiarly with man. I feel His mercy; I 
see His majesty; whether in the body or 
out of the body, I cannot tell, God 
knoweth ; but I see things that are unutter- 
able." Thus ravished in spirit, he roamed 
toward Heaven with a cheerful look, and 
soft sweet voice; but what he said could 
not be understood. 



Dr. Payson, one of the most eminent 
and consecrated ministers, who continually 
lived in the atmosphere of holiness, and 
was often heard crying, "O, to be holy as 
God is holy," when on his death bed, 
exclaimed, "I seem to be swimming in a 
flood of glory. The battle is fought and 



92 A BETTER COUNTRY 

the victory is won forever! I am going 
to bathe in an ocean of purity and happi- 
ness through all eternity. It seems as if 
the promise, *God shall wipe all tears from 
their eyes/ was already fulfilled to me, as 
respects tears of sorrow. I have no tears 
to shed now, but those of love, joy, and 
thankfulness.^' This holy man when dying 
exclaimed, "Peace! Peace! Victory! 
Victory!" 



The dying testimony of James Brainerd 
Taylor was: 

'T am a happy, though a sick and dying 
man. The Lord most gently and merci- 
fully hands me down the hill of life, while 
the descent seems very short. O, it will 
be sweet to take the last step, and walk 
into eternity. To me the grave wears a 
choice attire — Paradise more choice. O, 
think not that I am gloomy or depressed ; 
far, far, very far from it. Think of me 
as visited from above, and rolling along 
in a chariot all paved with love." 



A BETTER COUNTRY 93 

"Eternity rolls up before me like a sea 
of glory, and so near, Oh! that blessed 
company of redeemed sinners, and the 
glorious Jesus ! What a Saviour ; and He 
is mine. Oh ! what a speck of time is the 
longest life to prepare for that blessed 
world/' 

Mother Margaret Prior. 



"Welcome, thou cross of Christ !" After 
the fire was kindled, she said, "My soul 
doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit doth 
rejoice in God my Saviour." 

Mrs. Cicely Ormes^ Martyr. 



"I shall soon be with Jesus. Perhaps 
I am too anxious. Can this be death? 
Why, it's better than living! Tell them 
I die happy in Jesus." 

John Arthur Lyth. 



"I am on the border-land. All is well, 
all is well. Is this death? If this be 
death, then it is pleasant to die." 

Rev. David S. Montgomery. 



94 A BETTER COUNTRY 

**0h, I see such a fullness in Christ, as 
I never saw before. Tell the people I am 
trusting in a full salvation/' 

Rev. p. Corl. 



'We shall meet ere long to sing the new 
song, and remain happy forever in a world 
without end/' 

John Bunyan. 



''O ! What a blaze and a shout there will 
be when old John gets to Heaven/' 
Rev. John Warburton. 



"Oh! how beautiful. The opening 
Heavens around me shine." 

Rev. Philip Heck. 



"I am sure of Heaven, and will not 
have to wait long till I get there." 

Rev. Solomon Bigham. 



"Glory to God, I see the Heavens open 

before me." 

Benjamin Abbott. 



A BETTER COUNTRY 95 

"Is this dying? Is this dying? No, it 
is sweet Hving." 

Rev. Alfred Croll. 



"Do you see that bright light ? Do you 
see those angels?'' 

Rev. William Stephenson. 



^Rest, happiness, and peace forever." 

Bishop Pierce. 



"How bright the room; how full of 
angels !" 

Miss Martha McCrackin. 



1 shall receive the crown of glory." 
Rev. Thomas H. Stockton. 



They sing! The angels sing!" 

Rev. Francis Brazee. 



1 see Jesus." 

Jacob Eigheninger. 



96 A BETTER COUNTRY 

Fourth — Promiscuous 

''The glory of Heaven is such that it 
never can be fully known, till it be fully 
enjoyed. And yet if Heaven were ever 
made crystally transparent to you, if ever 
God opened you a window into it, and 
then opened the eye of your faith to look 
in by that window, think what it was that 
you there discovered, what inaccessible 
light, what cherishing love, what daunting 
majesty, what infinite purity, what over- 
loading joy, what insupportable and sink- 
ing glory, what rays and sparklings from 
crowns and sceptres! but more from the 
smiles and glances of God upon the 
heavenly host, who forever warm and sun 
themselves in His presence ; and when you 
have thought all this then think once 
again that all your thoughts are but 
shadows and glimmerings, that there are 
dust and ashes in the eye of your faith 
that make all these discoveries come 
infinitely short of the native glory of these 
things ; and then you may guess, and some- 
what near, what Heaven is." 

Bishop Hopkins. 



A BETTER COUNTRY 97 

The Last Words of a Dying Soldier. 

"Bear the news to dear old Mother. 
Take her my wages and the Bible she gave 
me as I said good-bye at the road gate in 
front of the apple orchard — Tell her I am 
come to firmly believe in the teachings of 
her Book as she taught it to me in child- 
hood; and therefore I will see her in that 
Heaven of which it speaks, where the 
throb of the war-drum, the burst of the 
shell, the clash of steel, and the groans 
of dying brothers are heard no more." 



"From His throne in Glory, while the 
angelic host looks on in admiration, our 
Lord points down to His tried, and tested, 
and toil-worn pilgrims on earth, and says : 
'These are mine. They are my peculiar 
people. They have kept my command- 
ments, and shall have right to the tree of 
life. They have trodden the way of the 
Cross, and despised the shame, and gone 
hungry, and destitute, and been per- 
secuted for righteousness' sake but I have 
prepared for them a City'." 



98 A BETTER COUNTRY 

"And looking back upon 'the sea that 
brought us thither/ we shall behold its 
waters flashing in the light of that ever- 
lasting morning and hear them breaking 
into music upon the eternal shore. And 
then, brethren, when all the weary night- 
watchers on the stormy ocean of life are 
gathered together around Him who 
watched with them from His throne on the 
bordering mountains of eternity, where 
the day shines forever — then He will seat 
them: at His table in His kingdom, and 
none will need to ask, 'Who art Thou?' 
or 'Where am I?' 'for all shall know it is 
the Lord,' and the full, perfect, unchange- 
able vision of His blessed face will be 
Heaven." 

Alexander MacLaren. 



"Will not this be the description of our 
future being — 'reaching forth unto those 
things which are before'? I believe that 
we shall thus live through all the eternities 
that are before us, growing wiser, nobler, 



A BETTER COUNTRY 99 

stronger, greater; plunging deeper into 
God, and being more and more filled with 
more and more of Him. So we shall move 
forever as in ascending spirals that rise 
ever higher, and draw ever closer to the 
throne we compass and to Him that dwells 
alone; ever perfect, yet ever growing, for 
we have an inexhaustible Saviour to 
absorb into our hearts, and we have hearts 
that never reach the ultimate bound and 
term of their infinite possibility of 
receiving.'^ 

Alexander MacLaren. 



"No human tongue has ever been able 
adequately to describe the glories of the 
finally redeemed soul. The pen of the 
most seraphic writer falls at his side at 
the thought of such an attempt. Down 
here the cries of the wounded, and bruised, 
and maimed, the sick and the deformed, 
resound on every hand, till we exclaim 
in anguish, ^How long, Oh Lord, how 
long?' Over there, comes back through 



lOO A BETTER COUNTRY 

the shining mists the answer, *nor crying, 
neither shall there be any more pain, for 
the former things are passed away.' '' 

L. D. Peavey. 



''Mamma/' said a little child, "my 
Sunday-school teacher tells me that this 
world is only a place where God lets us 
live awhile, that we may prepare for a 
better world. But, mamma, I do not see 
anybody preparing. I see you preparing 
to go to the country, and Aunt Eliza is 
preparing to come here; but I do not see 
any one preparing to go there ; why don't 
they try to get ready?" 



'Tf one could but look awhile through 
the chinks of Heaven's door, and see the 
beauty and bliss of Paradise; if he could 
but lay his ear to Heaven, and hear the 
ravishing music of those seraphic spirits, 
and the anthems of praise which they sing; 
how would his soul be exhilarated and 
transported with joy!" 

Watson. 



A BETTER COUNTRY loi 

Mr. Mead, an aged Christian, when 
asked how he did, answered, 'T am going 
home as fast as I can, as every honest man 
ought to do when his day's work is over; 
and I bless God I have a good home to 
go to." 



"When the first sight of those shining 
walls shall break on the glorified vision, — 
nay, even now, by the eye of faith, there 
comes such a torrent of rapture sweeping 
down through the soul, as makes the last, 
lingering thought of trial take to itself 
wings and vanish away!'' 

L. D. Peavey. 



I02 A BETTER COUNTRY 

Jerusalem, the golden ! 

With milk and honey blest, 
Beneath thy contemplation 

Sink heart and voice oppressed. 
I know not, oh I know not, 

What social joys are there! 
What radiancy of glory ! 

What light beyond compare ! 

They stand, those halls of Zion, 

All jubilant with song. 
And bright with many an angel, 

And all the martyr throng. 
The Prince is ever in them, 

The daylight is serene; 
The pastures of the blessed 

Are decked in glorious sheen. 

There is the throne of David ; 

And there, from care released. 
The shout of them that triumph. 

The song of them that feast : 
And they who, with their Leader, 

Have conquered in the fight 
For ever and for ever 

Are clad in robes of white. 



Coronation Glories 



INOTHER new book from the pen of Rev. 
Z\ M. E. Borders, gifted author of "A Better 
* *• Country." The many who wept and re- 
joiced over the pages of this last named book will 
be greatly pleased to receive this glorious book, 
telling of the sufferings, death, triumph and coro- 
nation of our blessed Saviour and King. 

You cannot afford to miss it. Buy it, read it 
and give it away to your friends. 

The author considers it fully equal to, if not 
better than, his former book. 

ONE MAN SAID, "the chapter describing 
Christ hanging on the cross is the finest 
thing I ever read." 

ANOTHER SAID, "I wish every person 
in the world could read this extraordinary 
book." 

"On the first glad Easter morning while the silver 
dusted lilies were waving to the singing breezes of the 
Sabbath morn, this mighty conqueror walks out of the 
grave, leaving it in ruins; appears many times to the en- 
couragement and joy of the disciples and finally, near the 
little city of Bethany, while the world is in a shimmer of 
golden glory, He gives His farewell charge to His disciples 
and starts back to the Father. All Heaven turns out 
to ." — Coronation Glories. 



PRICE, Beautifully Bound in Cloth - - 50c 

The Christian Witness Co. 

CHICAGO 



A Better Country 



To All Our Friends: 

Help us circulate 100,000 copies of this great book! 
Nearly 5,000 sold the first year! 

It has led souls to God, and saved and unsaved 
alike read it and weep over its pages. It 
will do good wherever it goes, A leading 
soul-winner of the century, he himself an 
author and preacher, says it is the best book 
he knows of to give to unsaved friends. 

This is only one of many instances: A young 
lady, having been handed a copy of this 
book, sat down to read it. As she read on, 
she thought of her mother in Heaven, and 
burst into tears. Said she, "I am not pre- 
pared to die," went to church that night 
and gave her heart to God. 

Just the gift for your unsaved loved ones. Ele- 
gantly bound in cloth for a birthday or a 
Sunday School gift. 

Help us circulate it! Here Is a chance for ALL 
to do good. Send in a list of names with 
the money and we will mail the books 
postpaid to the addresses. 

Cloth ... 50 Cents 
SEND IN YOUR ORDER TODAY 



The Christian Witness Co 

CHICAGO 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: August 2005 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Dnve 
Cranberry Township. PA 1 6066 
(724)779-2111 



